Dave Gorman

This is an accepted version of this page David James Gorman (born 2 March 1971) is an English comedian, presenter, and writer.

stage show, which he debuted at the 2000 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, while its television adaptation was broadcast as The Dave Gorman Collection in 2001.

with several other stand-up shows or comedic concepts that were turned into television series, including Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure (2003–2005), Genius (2009–2010), and Modern Life Is Goodish (2013–2017).

[7] For the show he wrote anonymous letters to thousands of local newspapers and asked the public to suggest ways in which one man could make the world a better place.

[8] Wallace disagreed with him, so the two travelled to Methil (about 450 miles (720 km) from London), with a Polaroid camera, to meet the assistant manager, whose name was indeed Dave Gorman.

Over the course of 40 days, he would try to follow any instructions given to people with his star sign in a selection of horoscopes, while his "control experiment" (his fraternal twin brother, Nick) ignored them.

On each episode of the show, Gorman would show footage of the amusing situations he got into by trying to follow his horoscope, and then asked a panel of "experts", agony aunt Denise Robertson (love), GMTV's Hilary Jones (health) and financial expert Alvin Hall (wealth), in the studio to assess how he had fared in the three areas.

Throughout the experiment, he had numerous adventures, including travelling to New York City to meet a long lost friend and then leaving a few hours later because he was ordered to spend as much time at home as possible, sharing pizza in a park while dressed in a rubber suit, and reading an illegally acquired pornographic magazine at Sunday lunch in front of his mother.

The most notable stunt he had to perform, from episode 2, was standing in Covent Garden on one leg with his foot in a bucket of water, a tangerine in one hand and some breakfast cereal in the other (in a bowl that cost £85 from Harrods), singing the national anthem backwards and balancing three books on his head.

Ultimately, he borrowed the money from his mother and asked her to bet the sum on Ian Woosnam to win the match of the day, as he had been instructed by his horoscope.

With his happiness at an all-time low, love scraping the bottom, and his finances in an extremely negative position, the experts, his mother, Wallace, the crowd and Gorman himself could only hope the bet would pay off – which it ultimately did at odds long enough to place him not only back at level wealth, but supplying him with twice as much cash as he had started off with.

He eventually spent his publisher's advance on the quest, without writing any of the promised novel, and had to create the Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure show to pay them back.

This show was premiered at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and then went on to sell out for a two-week run at the Sydney Opera House's Studio Theatre.

It also sold out at the George Square Theatre as part of the 2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe before embarking on a major UK tour of 75 shows in the space of three months.

In 2011, Gorman published a book about his adventures in various British towns, during a period of his life when he challenged people to invite him to game-playing sessions.

The book explains games of Bluke, Khet, Kubb, Smite, Settlers of Catan, Monopoly, Poker and others.

[11] He hosted a BBC Radio 4 show called Genius, in which members of the public submitted suggestions to make a better world.

[15] On 27 April, he debuted as the host of the show's satirical statistical analysis piece called "Poll Smoking with Dave Gorman".

[17] He has also appeared co-hosting a segment called "ConTROVersy" with the Daily Show's other English correspondent, John Oliver, in which the pair calmly and genteelly discussed former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair over tea, parodying American stereotypes of Britons.

A book about the trip, entitled America Unchained: A Freewheeling Roadtrip in Search of Non-Corporate USA, was released on 3 April 2008.

On 12 July 2010, he performed the show again – twice in one evening – at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London, which was recorded for a DVD release (Dave Gorman Stand-Up.

Before the recording, Gorman performed the act again as The Warm Up Show at four small venues in the UK in order to freshen his memory.

[30] Because of the popularity of the show, after a short break during the filming of Terms and Conditions Apply, Gorman continued to tour until November 2019.

[31] In June 2019, it was announced on Chortle that Gorman would be hosting a new TV series on Dave called Terms and Conditions Apply, with eight one-hour long episodes.

The format is similar to that of Modern Life Is Goodish, but Gorman was joined by guest stars on each episode, competing in various games based on the subjects presented.

[33] On 30 April 2022, Dave Gorman announced another live stage show tour called PowerPoint to the People for autumn 2022.

Gorman also appeared on, and won, episode nine of the first series of QI, in which the guests included Jo Brand and Jeremy Hardy.

Gorman appeared on the week-long special Grand Designs Live, in which he showcased eccentric houses in the United States in 2015.

In October 2014, it was announced that Gorman would voice a character in the upcoming crowdfunded animated film Doug and the Meaning of Life.

celebrity special on 3 January 2012, Gorman was the 'phone-a-friend' to whom Mack turned; he successfully identified Carte Blanche as a James Bond novel, doing so without needing to be told the four possible answers.

Gorman at a signing event for his Googlewhack Adventure book, in 2005